Posts Tagged ‘ABC Religion and Ethics’

Brooke, 21, tells her story for the first time

Brooke, 21, survived a year of abuse at the hands of her porn-fuelled boyfriend who bashed her if she resisted the porn inspired acts he demanded. Last Tuesday Brooke and I shared a platform at a breakfast gathering of civic leaders, teachers, police domestic violence & social welfare workers in Toowoomba, to discuss the relationship between pornography and violence. Bravely sharing her story for the first time, Brooke moved the room to tears. She is a living expression of the direct suffering women endure at the hands of men living on a diet of pornography. Here’s what she said at the event (slightly edited).

MTR with Brooke at City Women community breakfast

My name is Brooke, I’ve lived in Toowoomba for two years. I have been involved in a domestic violence relationship and this morning I’m going to share more about this so called relationship. I first met John when I was 18 years old we both lived close together and soon became great friends.

It wasn’t long after becoming friends with John that we both started dating, I was overjoyed that I finally had someone who loved me for me but I soon came to realise that this wasn’t the case. A month into the relationship he had beaten me twice, mentally abused me about my weight and looks. He couldn’t go anywhere with me as I was too ugly and didn’t fit into the size of clothing that he wanted me to.

So I was left at home stuck with his abusive step father who loved John and would do anything to stop me from being happy. Soon before I knew it, I couldn’t eat. I was allowed coffee and smokes, that was all. I developed an eating disorder.

No longer allowed around my friends, I couldn’t call anyone if I wanted to see anyone it had to be with John and when he wanted to leave we had to leave then and there. I soon lost my friends my personal trainer had started to notice the bruise and cuts but I couldn’t say anything in fear she would be hurt. I was alone scared and lost.

John was addicted to porn. He would watch porn on TV, his phone and had videos saved to his iPod. It didn’t matter where he was, if he wanted to jerk off he would pull out his mobile and go for it. If I refused to have sex with him, he would sit there doing his business while telling me what I was missing out on, how pretty these girls were, if only he knew them I real life. His mind had been filled with this image of what pretty woman had to look like and I was supposed to look and act like them.

One night I refused to have sex with him. I was hit, kicked in the gut and nearly lost my life all because he couldn’t get internet, his phoned had gone flat and I refused. His girlfriend wouldn’t give him sex but my best friend did. We were at his auntie’s house for a birthday party the weekend before my 19th birthday.

My 19th birthday wasn’t a birthday I want to remember, but I do. I was told I wasn’t allowed a small cake as it would make me even fatter and he couldn’t have that. As a present I was beaten three times that day and punched 20 times by midnight. I was too sore to fight him anymore. I wanted my life to end then and there but I couldn’t do anything so I asked him to kill me instead.

The police had been called for a domestic between John and his mum not long after and I was hidden in the bedroom too scared to come out. I could have been free that night but I stayed in fear. He was fine, he watched porn again that night like nothing happened.

I don’t know why but I asked a friend to meet with me knowing the risk. I had I told John I was going to the gym but instead packed a bag of clothes taking nothing but one bag with me to this friend.

After meeting my friend we went to her friend’s house where the next day I was taken to Goodna Youth Service and put on to D.V connect. I was moved that day to Brisbane where he found me, then moved to the Gold Coast where he once again found me. I was so desperate for him to just leave me alone that I tried to kill myself but survived. Why, I’m still working that out. After being released from hospital I was transferred to Toowoomba.

Since moving to Toowoomba, John has found me but I have decided not to run anymore. I can’t keep doing it as I have a life here. I now live in a safe supportive family, I’m currently studying and looking for part-time work and volunteering at The Base soup kitchen.

If porn was not in John’s life, I believe I would have been treated correctly as a woman who had feelings not an object to be tossed away like it didn’t matter.

If you know anyone in any sort of bad relationship or come across someone wanting help I beg you to help them. You don’t know their story but you can be the one to save them.

Last week I was one of 12 panelists on the ABC2 program ‘Australians on Porn’. I’d had my hesitations about participating, the producers assured me of fair treatment and a serious discussion how porn was shaping sexual attitudes and behaviours. What transpired was a wank fest and sex industry promotion. We saw and heard from a number of porn performers, representing the vested interests of the industry – but there were no women speaking of how they were harmed in the industry and had got out.

The main takeout for me: do not dare stand in the way of a man’s entitlement to ejaculate to whatever he wants. My attempts to raise critical issues of sexism, rape, violence, and misogyny perpetuated in the most popular porn genres were shouted down. I was mocked for mentioning the ethics of using porn when the woman on the screen may have been trafficked. No one cared. Probably my lowest moment in an hour of low moments was when the ‘sexologist’ Jacqueline Hellyer tried to prevent me from reading this letter from the director of a sexual assault clinic. “It’s not relevant!”, she declared. I was also told to stop talking about facts.

I am the Director a Sexual Violence counselling service and totally agree with your article. In the past few years we have had a huge increase in intimate partner rape of women from 14 to 80+. The biggest common denominator is consumption of porn by the offender. With offenders not able to differentiate between fantasy and reality, believing women are “up for it” 24/7, ascribing to the myth that ” no means yes and yes means anal “, oblivious to injuries caused and never ever considering consent. We have seen a huge increase in deprivation of liberty, physical injuries, torture , drugging, filming and sharing footage without consent. I founded the centre 25 years ago and what is now considered to be the norm in 2015 is frightening. I wonder where we will be in another 10 years!

This photo of host Tom Tilley on a porn set with two porn actresses (the one on the left a panelist on the show), may suggest why it was expecting too much to be given fair treatment. Looks like he had a good time anyway.

Laura McNally wrote this assessment of the program published today on ABC Religion and Ethics.

Yet, according to Australians on Porn host Tom Tilley, “How many people end up in extreme situations? … there isn’t a lot of research out there to prove that.” Read more

Laura Pintur, also a panellist on the show, wrote this piece published also on ABC Religion and Ethics a short time earlier.

The ABC Squandered its Chance to Host the Discussion on Porn We Need to Have

When I was first asked to join the panel for ABC2′s Australians on Porn program, which aired last Monday night, I was pleased to see a mainstream and respected show like Triple J Hack initiate a debate on the impacts of pornography on Australians – especially its youth demographic.

However, as it turned out, the show was heavily weighted towards the pro-porn camp, with porn consumers, a porn “star” and porn producers dominating the program. Other porn actors appeared in sex scenes in videos along with more porn consumers.

While there were a couple of guys who felt porn hadn’t always been good for them, overall porn was treated as a laugh and the seriousness of the issue trivialised.

Its major focus centred around the use of porn by “mature adults,” and failed to highlight and discuss the issues with the younger generations.

ABC2′s publicity stated that the purpose of the show was to “lift the lid on the commodification of sex.” It certainly confirmed that sex has become an accepted commodity – nothing new there! But did it lift the lid? Did it accurately look at the “costs, the consequences and impact on attitude to sex” as was promised? Read more

The only positive has been the many comments critical of the program on TripleJHack’s Facebook pages and the messages of support I have received personally. And this posted by a 19-year-old (who happens to be my daughter):

Re-branding exploitation as choice

“The realisation that on issues related to poverty and sexual exploitation, there is no solidarity from Australian feminists…

“…I had wrongly assumed that those leading the charge against sexism would examine how ethnocentrism and economic disparity have created and maintained conditions, policies and norms under which exploitation of women is inevitable.”

“Yet an expanding sex trade only results in more women trapped in a cycle of poverty and violence. Rather than opening up new opportunities, women in the sex trade are far less likely to live to see 40 years of age due to the violence, illness and disease to which the johns expose them…”

“Vulnerable women’s voices are blocked out of feminist media in order to preference a few wealthy women in the Australian industry”

“I’ve come to realise that if anyone couldn’t care less about the countless Asian girls being exploited at home and abroad, it is Australian feminists.”

Amber Rose’s Slutwalk is the natural pinnacle of Slutwalk

“The kids of Slutwalk readily embraced anti-feminist stereotypes of second wavers and chose to distance themselves from the movement, selling out for media coverage and male support. And where did it get us? Well, you see young, privileged women today advocating for prostitution and pornography as liberated choices for women using the same language the Slutwalkers did: “My body my choice!” “I do what I want, fuck yeah!” You see efforts to encourage men to vote against Stephen Harper by offering blow jobs or exchanging nude photos for votes. “Sluts Against Harper” [NSFW — feel free to report this Instagram account for pornography] is direct evidence of Slutwalk’s impact on young people’s understanding of politics today. All women can offer, in terms of advocating for change, are their objectified bodies. While leftist men have long encouraged women’s subordinate status, only considering men’s liberation and equality something worth fighting for, it’s new for self-described “feminists” to glom on to this blatant sexism.

The neoliberal, self-centered, enormously deluded notion that if women simply “choose” objectification or commodification, it becomes empowering, now underpins mainstream feminism. We seem to have fully embraced the idea that “reclaiming” misogyny and making it our own is the best we can do. While it’s clear to those of us in the movement that this is anything but feminism, those engaged don’t see it that way, nor does the media. “

Sexualised Violence isn’t Alright, Just because a Woman is the Perpetrator

BBHMM revels in the eroticization of total power, control and domination over another woman. But we are expected to see it as empowering, because Rihanna and her henchwomen are the agents of this control

By Melinda Tankard Reist

A frame from Rihanna’s new video for Bitch Better Have My Money (BBHMM) zooms in on Rihanna’s bikinied bottom. Floating horizontally beside her is Rih’s half-drowned victim.

The singer’s “hot bum” is more significant than the woman floating beneath Rihanna’s lilo. Men are enjoying it. They love her blood soaked “titties” too.

BBHMM revels in the eroticization of total power, control and domination over another woman. But we are expected to see it as empowering, because Rihanna and her henchwomen are the agents of this control.

And because Rihanna is black, and because the victim is white and because so many black women have suffered because of white privilege, the rest of us should shut up.

But if we are going to call out other expressions of physical, sexual and emotional brutality men enact on women (Tyler the Creator, Snoop Dog, Eminem, to name a few) and the kind of white girl cruelty led by Lady Gaga (in Telephone), we can’t quarantine the mega star’s video because of her colour.

The clip has been acclaimed as: badass feminism, subversive, sassy, funny, bossy, ballsy, edgy, unapologetic. Call it what you like. What you’re left with is the 7 minute sadistic abuse of a woman for entertainment (garnering more than 16 million views so far).

The story line: Rihanna is mad because her accountant ripped her off (which happened in real life). So Rih and her girlfriends kidnap the accountant’s pearly white, filthy rich, Pomeranian-toting wife and hit the road for some ritualised torture and pornified abuse.

The hostage is stripped, assaulted, hung upside down and swung by a hook in an abandoned barn, plied with drugs and alcohol, made a plaything for a party and knocked unconscious with a bottle to the head when she calls out for help.

When torturing rich-white-lady-who-had-it-coming doesn’t get her money back, greedy dude is quickly dispatched. He keeps his clothes on, there is no drawn out persecution, no sado-suffering at the hands of our rubber suited vixen. His death doesn’t even get that much airtime, really. Five seconds later, Rih is smeared in blood, her naked body adorned with dollar bills in the trunk which once held her victim (who is dead or alive, we’re not sure; there’s more concern over what became of her dog).

To put it bluntly, it is the woman whose humiliation we’re expected to enjoy. A Huffington Post reviewer writes that the line, “Your wife’s in the backseat of my brand new foreign car” was “brought to life” at a live rendition of the song on Saturday Night Live in March, with a “crying, bound and gagged woman utilized as part of the performance”.

Of course, there’s a risk in calling out women’s violence against women. It gives entitled men who don’t like their violence named an excuse to say, “Women are just as bad!” But while the global statistics on violence show it is mostly men who are the perpetrators, we can’t gloss over such brutality when it is women normalising and embedding it in the culture. Though Cosmopolitan – a magazine which has supported campaigns against violence against women – manages to do just that: “She throws her phone into the ocean and shoots it. Plus NSFW nudity!”

BBHMM sends a message that female power comes from inflicting pain on other women while still being sexually appealing to men. Through the bloodied rampage, Rihanna is represented as a badass, cool and confident, while her powerless captive flails. At the BDSM-themed party, we are led to believe the inebriated victim is enjoying her torture. The viewer also learns that this is how black women get power: by punishing white women who are portrayed as a privileged pampered bitches.

It has been posited that Rihanna is a grand philosopher making some elaborate comment on race, or gender or class, and that the video represents some kind of proletarian uprising of poor black women. (The fact Rihanna is a brand seems to be forgotten). “I see a black woman putting her own well-being above the well-being of a white woman,” writes Mia McKenzie. Poor black women have to put themselves first if they are to pay the rent and such like.

There is no denying the hardship faced by black women in cultures where they suffer the double indignities of race and being female. But Rihanna’s character is hardly symbolic of oppressed black women. Her victim, remember, is in the back of a new car p a car our heroine sets on fire a short time later because, well, there’s plenty more where that came from. She can afford to hurl her phone into the sea and can lay out wads of cash for Louis Vuitton chests (perfect for storing hostages in). And how many black women – indeed, any women – can afford Rihanna’s wardrobe? (her BBHMM outfits are listed in the “definitive ranking” on one fashion site: “Kidnapping, nudity, murder: the video of the year is here, and it’s got the style to prove it”).

How many black women have the kind of power and fame Rihanna possesses – and why is that power being used to promote sexual torture of women? And how does her personal power help other women who are oppressed by race, gender and class? One woman’s popularity does not equal the freedom of many.

Can’t we start from the basis that no woman deserve to be hurt? It is problematic that, as a survivor of violence herself, Rhianna would make a video sending cultural signifiers which imply that violence is a way of solving problems. In so doing, she has contributed to a hostile environment for women everywhere.

Rihanna has 81 million Facebook, 42 million Twitter and 16 million Instagram followers. Many will be young women, and many of those young black women. They observe a script loaded with eroticised violence, themes inspired by the sex industry and pimp culture, lyrics celebrating the debasement of women. For many young women imprisoned in America’s juvenile justice system, violence was not a pathway to empowerment and success. The enculturation of violence as a normalised pattern of behaviour has been identified as a key factor in their criminal behaviour.

Girls looking to Rihanna as an icon of success, wealth and power deserve better than brutal, pornified snuff which plays into harmful cultural, racist and misogynist stereotypes in which all women lose.

Collective Shout​ new recruit Laura Pintur, 23, has her first ever published piece: ‘Why I’m calling on Coles and Woolworths to dump Zoo magazine’ in Daily Life today. As signatures build to close to 10,000, Her campaign is being picked up all over the place. I also did a few radio interviews. This is just a small sample of the media this campaign attracted in the last 48 hours. Coles and Woolworths have not officially responded.

Why I am calling on Coles and Woolworths to ban Zoo Weekly from their shelves

Because of the stories I hear of young girls who are being pressured into sex as young as 12 or 13, the two women a week who die at the hands of their partners or ex partners, and the experiences of too many of my friends who are survivors of sexual abuse, I’ve decided to take a stand against companies that are normalising, encouraging and endorsing the mistreatment of women.

I’m 23 years-old. This is the first time I’ve taken action against national corporations. But I’ve had enough.

Almost every young woman I know experiences the daily reality of sexually harassing comments, cat-calling, inappropriate touching, comments about their bodies, pressure from boys for sexual images and questions about the sex acts they’re willing to do. We talk about it among ourselves and we all think it’s getting worse.

This week, I launched a petition on Change.org calling on our major supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, to bin this so called ‘lads mag’. Read more

Marketing coordinator for a non-profit organization, Laura Pintur, 23, has launched a Change.org petition directed at the CEO’s of Woolworths and Coles, Grant Obrian and John Durkan, calling on the big two supermarket chains to stop selling Zoo Weekly.

Ms Pintur said the so called ‘lads mag’ encouraged the sexual exploitation of women and girls.

“Zoo contributes to a culture that is hostile and threatening to women”,” she says.

The petition refers to a 2011 study comparing lads mags’ (including Zoo) and statements from convicted rapists. It found many people could not distinguish the source of the quotes.

“Zoo Weekly uses the same language as rapists in its magazines,” said Ms Pintur.

Zoo also gives tips to young readers on how to coerce drunk women into sex.

Sexually objectifying imagery and demeaning content feature on Zoo’s social media. This has included an image Zoo shared with its Facebook supporters of a woman’s body cut in two with the question, “Which half do you prefer?” Young readers described their various pornographic uses for the woman’s top half and/or her bottom half.

Zoo magazine is unrestricted, meaning there are no age restrictions on who can purchase the magazine. Bauer’s statistics indicate that 36,000 boys aged 14-17 read Zoo.

“Zoo teaches boys that women should submit to their demands. Do Coles and Woolworths, which pride themselves on their corporate ethics and support for communities, share this view? If not why spread it?” Ms Pintur said.

“I have seen and experienced first hand the detrimental costs of what this magazine endorses, not only in my life but the lives of other young people.

“What chance does my generation, and those younger than me have when such major corporations help groom boys to treat us badly?”

“It’s time for these company’s to stand up for the wellbeing of women and girls and against discrimination, harassment and violence.

How Zoo denied women value as equal people: an artist’s view

Artist Georgia Chisholm sent me this potent artwork she created, as her protest against Zoo and in support of our campaign. She writes:

The piece ‘Zoo Identity’ is a compilation of written descriptors of women taken directly from the March 2015 issue of Zoo Australia. I endeavoured to communicate the impact of zoo and its portrayal of females on my own identity formation as a young woman. The message purported by Zoo is that women are only good for one thing. I, like most other women, am constantly bombarded with images and words such as those depicted in Zoo, each time I visit the corner store, browse the internet or turn on the television. With so much media pressure devoted to women’s bodies and how we look as sex objects it has become so difficult to truly appreciate our personal worth as humans. I wholeheartedly support the removal of Zoo from Coles and Woolworths. I would be a step in the right direction towards removing a pervasive culture that denies women value as equal people within society.

Stop promoting rape culture! Bin Zoo mag.

I’m a 23 year-old woman trying to navigate my way around a culture that is surrounded with porn, sexualisation and objectification of women and enjoy healthy, respect-based relationships with men. But how is that possible when so many of them are being fed a diet of porn and violence including in magazines like Zoo Weekly read by thousands of boys every week?

I want this to change. Why should our major supermarket chains supply this magazine which promotes the abuse of women like me?

Boys can find advice like this:

“You think your girl’s so dewy­eyed she’s never sucked dick before? She knows how it works…. Is your girlfriend a bunny rabbit? A fragile rice­paper arrangement? No? Then how about you let her know she’s being f**ked?… she’ll like you taking charge like a real man.”

And:

‘If the object of your affection is drinking, that’s already a point in your favour… you want to pick the “loosest/skankiest” one of the lot and fetch her a drink…separate her from the flock. You’re off alone, boozed-up and charming — these are three green lights!’

Zoo Weekly recently came under fire, but not for publishing quotes like this one. It was recently forced to remove advertising for its ‘ANZAC commemorative edition‘ after the Department of Veteran Affairs threatened fines.

I was stunned at how quickly Zoo could be pulled into line on the ANZAC issue, while its abusive portrayal of women goes on with no action taken.

Where are the fines for the ongoing sexual exploitation of women and girls? Where is the punishment for contributing to a culture that is hostile and threatening to women? Where is the outrage?

Zoo Weekly is promoting attitudes that put women and girls at increased risk.

A study comparing lads’ mags (including Zoo) and statements from convicted rapists found that many people could not distinguish the source of the comments. That is, Zoo Weekly uses the same language as rapists in their magazine.

Other disturbing content from Zoo Weekly includes:

Tips for using alcohol to coerce women into unwanted sex.
Encouraging readers to send in pictures of their girlfriends breasts for a chance to win breast augmentation surgery.
Their 2012 Hottest Asylum Seeker competition, encouraging female asylum seekers to send in sexy pics.
Photoshopping the head of Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young onto the body of one of their half naked models after she refused to pose in their magazine.
Sharing a photo on their Facebook page of a woman’s body cut into two pieces, asking fans which half they would prefer and why (the responses from men were sick).
Sharing sexualised images of girls who appear underage on their Facebook page lifted from teen porn websites.

And all of this is classified as ‘men’s lifestyle’ – there are no age restrictions on who can purchase Zoo. Recent market data showed that 36,000 boys aged 14-17 are among its readership. The magazine openly states that “men” aged 16-40 are their core target.

Zoo brainwashes boys into believing that women must submit to their sexual demands, otherwise they aren’t ‘man’ enough. Zoo Weekly is promoting attitudes that put women and girls at increased risk. In Australia, violence against women has become a national emergency, with up to two women being murdered by their partners each week. Magazines like Zoo promote attitudes that lead to violence against women. They should have no place in supermarkets.

I have seen and experienced first hand the detrimental costs of what this magazine endorses not only in my life and the lives of other young people, and I want to see change.

What chance does my generation, the generations above me and the generation below me who are growing up and being brainwashed to believe what is endorsed in this magazine is normal and ok, actually have?

Zoo Weekly didn’t cross the line with Anzac Day, it crossed the line a long time ago. Condemnation of Zoo Weekly must extend to its sexual exploitation of women and its sick and predatory grooming of young boys too.

Coles and Woolworths, as our major supermarket chains you pride yourselves on being family stores with a strong commitment to community values. It’s time for you to stand up for the wellbeing of women and girls and against discrimination, harassment and violence. We need to take a stance and make it known that these issues are real and it’s only going to get worse if we as a society keep normalising it. Please stop profiting from selling Zoo and remove it from your stores immediately.

Laura Pintur is a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who got tired of seeing the sexist lad’s mag Zoo on the supermarket shelves. Though never having campaigned on anything before, she decided she had to take action. Please support her Change.org petition now!

Stop promoting rape culture! Bin Zoo mag.

I’m a 23 year-old woman trying to navigate my way around a culture that is surrounded with porn, sexualisation and objectification of women and enjoy healthy, respect-based relationships with men. But how is that possible when so many of them are being fed a diet of porn and violence including in magazines like Zoo Weekly read by thousands of boys every week?

I want this to change. Why should our major supermarket chains supply this magazine which promotes the abuse of women like me?

Boys can find advice like this:

“You think your girl’s so dewy­eyed she’s never sucked dick before? She knows how it works…. Is your girlfriend a bunny rabbit? A fragile rice­paper arrangement? No? Then how about you let her know she’s being f**ked?… she’ll like you taking charge like a real man.”

And:

‘If the object of your affection is drinking, that’s already a point in your favour… you want to pick the “loosest/skankiest” one of the lot and fetch her a drink…separate her from the flock. You’re off alone, boozed-up and charming — these are three green lights!’

Zoo Weekly recently came under fire, but not for publishing quotes like this one. It was recently forced to remove advertising for its ‘ANZAC commemorative edition‘ after the Department of Veteran Affairs threatened fines.

I was stunned at how quickly Zoo could be pulled into line on the ANZAC issue, while its abusive portrayal of women goes on with no action taken.

Where are the fines for the ongoing sexual exploitation of women and girls? Where is the punishment for contributing to a culture that is hostile and threatening to women? Where is the outrage?

Zoo Weekly is promoting attitudes that put women and girls at increased risk.

A study comparing lads’ mags (including Zoo) and statements from convicted rapists found that many people could not distinguish the source of the comments. That is, Zoo Weekly uses the same language as rapists in their magazine.

Other disturbing content from Zoo Weekly includes:

Tips for using alcohol to coerce women into unwanted sex.
Encouraging readers to send in pictures of their girlfriends breasts for a chance to win breast augmentation surgery.
Their 2012 Hottest Asylum Seeker competition, encouraging female asylum seekers to send in sexy pics.
Photoshopping the head of Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young onto the body of one of their half naked models after she refused to pose in their magazine.
Sharing a photo on their Facebook page of a woman’s body cut into two pieces, asking fans which half they would prefer and why (the responses from men were sick).
Sharing sexualised images of girls who appear underage on their Facebook page lifted from teen porn websites.

And all of this is classified as ‘men’s lifestyle’ – there are no age restrictions on who can purchase Zoo. Recent market data showed that 36,000 boys aged 14-17 are among its readership. The magazine openly states that “men” aged 16-40 are their core target.

Zoo brainwashes boys into believing that women must submit to their sexual demands, otherwise they aren’t ‘man’ enough. Zoo Weekly is promoting attitudes that put women and girls at increased risk. In Australia, violence against women has become a national emergency, with up to two women being murdered by their partners each week. Magazines like Zoo promote attitudes that lead to violence against women. They should have no place in supermarkets.

I have seen and experienced first hand the detrimental costs of what this magazine endorses not only in my life and the lives of other young people, and I want to see change.

What chance does my generation, the generations above me and the generation below me who are growing up and being brainwashed to believe what is endorsed in this magazine is normal and ok, actually have?

Zoo Weekly didn’t cross the line with Anzac Day, it crossed the line a long time ago. Condemnation of Zoo Weekly must extend to its sexual exploitation of women and its sick and predatory grooming of young boys too.

Coles and Woolworths, as our major supermarket chains you pride yourselves on being family stores with a strong commitment to community values. It’s time for you to stand up for the wellbeing of women and girls and against discrimination, harassment and violence. We need to take a stance and make it known that these issues are real and it’s only going to get worse if we as a society keep normalising it. Please stop profiting from selling Zoo and remove it from your stores immediately.

How Zoo grooms boys to see women and girls as objects: a short history

Zoo Weekly is an ‘unrestricted’ pornographic magazine. This means the classification board has determined that there should be no real age limit on who can buy these magazines. Complaints to classifications about pornographic content have been rejected, with the magazine being deemed as ‘mens lifestyle.’

Take the quiz Psychologists from Middlesex University and the University of Surrey found that when presented with descriptions of women taken from Lads Mags, and comments about women made by convicted rapists, most people who took part in the study could not distinguish the source of the quotes. Read more

Model Erin Pash adorns the cover and inside pages, holding a poppy, lying tummy down among poppies and reclining against old army posters on a page decorated with, you guessed it, poppies. All in a bikini (Gallipoli involved a beach, right?).

But Zoo is in official trouble, not for sexing up ANZAC day, but for using the word “ANZAC” on its Facebook page announcing today’s issue. There are laws against using the name for advertising – and fines of $50,000.

While Zoo has gotten away with sexism for years, it was only when using the word “ANZAC” that the “men’s lifestyle” mag stepped into line. Perhaps it was because the Department of Veterans’ Affairs demanded Zoo remove all references to ANZAC and the editors didn’t want to go to prison or pay a $51,000 fine.

While Zoo made the necessary changes to avoid offence for misusing the term ANZAC, they have failed to make changes on any other front.

Where is the outcry over Zoo‘s raw, unadulterated violence against women, its exploitation and degradation of women – which fuels the ongoing global war against women? Where are the threats of fines and prison for portraying women as dehumanised sex objects?

Zoo has depicted a woman chopped in half and ask readers – 28,000 of them boys aged 14-17, according to publisher Bauer Media – which half they prefer. The responses are unprintable.

In the “Ask Danny” section, men are encouraged to set fire to their girlfriend’s pubic hair if they haven’t waxed. Danny advises on treatment of an ex: “Cut her face so that nobody will want her.” Readers are also encouraged to take advantage of women who are drunk (which is a crime): “You want to pick the ‘loosest/skankiest’ one of the lot and fetch her a drink separate her from the flock. You’re off alone, boozed-up and charming – these are three green lights!”

On its Facebook page, Zoo shows pornified images of girls who appear underage, which they’ve lifted from “teen porn” sites. Readers point out girls are underage (“I remember seeing this in teen forums 5 years ago,” says Karlos Alexander) but are happy to ogle her anyway (“F—ing awesome tits nonetheless,” Karlos adds).

Zoo posts “Who do you prefer” pics where it invites Facebook users to rank photos of near naked women. It invites young female Facebook fans to send in sexualised images to be distributed in their magazines or online.

In July 2012, Zoo asked: “Are you Australia’s hottest asylum seeker?” Female asylum seekers who had “swapped persecution for sexiness” were encouraged to send in pictures. Zoo joked about “shooting” them with a camera. In Zoo world, even female survivors of human rights violations can be offered up as porny fantasy for readers. Hot refugee women for you to get off on! Brutalised beauties for your viewing pleasure!

Zoo‘s treatment of Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop, showed no woman was exempt from exploitation. A woman who devoted her life to the poor was celebrated with a model in a habit, and headings like “St Mary Mac and her holy rack” and “Mary’s heavenly hooters blessed by Pope.” She was presented on her knees “begging for it.”

Zoo Weekly is sold in service stations, newsagents, corner stores. Woolworths and Coles sell it too, apparently not caring that they are contributing to an intimidating, hostile, degrading, environment for women, including their own staff.

The persistent reduction of women to body parts is a form of discrimination contributing to violence against them. Zoo spreads the idea that male sexuality is based on power and aggression and that women must be brought into line. Displaying lads’ mags in everyday spaces like supermarkets reinforces the message that treating women like frivolous sex-objects is normal and acceptable.

Where are the governments and regulatory authorities who will step up and say you can’t treat women this way? Zoo Weekly was pulled into line for its demeaning exploitation of the ANZAC commemoration. Now can we do the same for women?

Gong Qifeng was seven months pregnant with her second son when she was pinned onto a hospital table in Hunan, China, and forcibly aborted as she begged for mercy. The dead baby was born after 35 hours of agony. “It has become a mental pain. I feel like a walking corpse,” Gong told AP last month.

Liu Xinwen told Sky News how a group of 20 officials burst into her home at 4am. Her husband was restrained as she was taken to a Weifang City hospital and injected with abortion-inducing drugs. Photos of their dead baby in a bucket spread online. And renowned Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and his wife Chen Ting were fined more than $1 million for having unauthorised children.

These recently exposed cases have renewed focus on the barbarism of China’s population control policy. But in the global commentary condemning these human rights violations, the complicity of the West – including Australia – has been overlooked. Australia has aided and abetted China’s one-child policy, through funds, attempts to ban victims from applying for asylum and forcible deportations of pregnant Chinese women. We have blood on our hands.

We can’t pretend that we didn’t know what would happen to the women we sent back. There was a growing body of expert documentation, including first-hand testimony. A Chinese gynaecologist and Christian forced to perform abortions, “Dr Wong,” was refused asylum but won an appeal on religious freedom grounds. Read more here.

‘The foremost authority in Australia cyber safety lays it on the line and challenges parents to find their digital spine.’ – Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Whether it is problems with friends, worrying about how you look or just feeling a bit down in the dumps – these books are written especially for you – to help you in your journey. Purchase all four together and save $18.50 on postage! Author: Sharon Witt

In this DVD, Melinda takes us on a visual tour of popular culture. “Melinda’s presentation leaves audiences reeling. She delivers her message with a clarity and commonsense without peer.” – Steve Biddulph, author, Raising Boys, Raising Girls

In this easy-to-read updated book, Steve Biddulph shares powerful stories and give practical advice about every aspect of boyhood.

Men of Honour -written by Glen Gerreyn- encourages and inspires young men to take up the challenge to be honourable. Whether at school, in sport, at work or in relationships, we must develp our character to achieve success and experience the thrills life has on offer.

Purchase the Ruby Who? DVD and book together for only $35 saving 10% off the individual price.

“Getting Real contains a treasure trove of information and should be mandatory reading for all workers with young people in health, education and welfare” – Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Adolescent Psychologist

Do you read women’s lifestyle magazines? Have you thought about how magazines might affect you when you read them? Faking It reflects the body of academic research on magazines, mass media, and the sexual objectification of women.

Ruby Who? is the sweet and innocent story of a little girl’s adventure in re-discovering her identity. Ruby wishes for so many things and dreams of being like others. Will she end up forgetting how to just be herself?

Ruby Who? is the sweet and innocent story of a little girl’s adventure in re-discovering her identity. Ruby wishes for so many things and dreams of being like others. Will she end up forgetting how to just be herself?

Defiant Birth challenges widespread medical, and often social aversion to less than perfect pregnancies or genetically different babies. It also features women with disabilities who were discouraged from becoming pregnant at all.